Official synopsis from the Fantasia website: A reunion weekend spirals out of control for four college friends when the host, a science fiction writer on the verge of newfound success, fights to maintain his sense of reality in the face of sudden, uncanny dangers.
Director Steve Pink’s thriller Terrestrial wants to play with your mind. My advice is to let it do so.
Maddie (Pauline Chalamet), her boyfriend Ryan (James Morosini), and their friend Vic (Edy Modica) visit their university friend Allen (Jermaine Fowler), who is on the verge of success thanks to the imminent publication of his debut science fiction novel. His home is a luxurious one with decorations from film adaptations of well-known sci-fi author SJ Purcell’s (Brendan Hunt) “The Neptune Files” series of novels, which Allen loves.
Though welcoming at first, Allen becomes increasingly agitated, arousing suspicion among the trio of friends, with Vic being skeptical of Allen from the beginning. I don’t want to give away anything more regarding the plot, as first-time viewers will find Terrestrial most rewarding if they go in as cold as possible. Suffice it to say that Pink (Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity, Hot Tub Time Machine), working from a fantastic screenplay by first-time feature-film writers Connor Diedrich and Samuel Johnson, delivers a genre-blending winner that mashes up thriller, science fiction, and dark comedy elements that should keep even the most jaded of genre-film aficionados guessing throughout.
Terrestrial is an exploration of our public faces and facades, and how the harsh reality of trying to hide our true selves can lead down dark paths. Fowler gives a tremendous performance in his lead role as a young man with big dreams who finds out just how dark those paths can be. The cast is fine throughout, with the main supporting players that I mentioned earlier all doing top-notch work.
The film employs a nonlinear narrative that shakes the proceedings up splendidly. Pink paces the feature wonderfully. Constantly surprising and thoroughly entertaining, Terrestrial is a gripping thriller and a mesmerizing character study, and is certain to wind up on many a “Best of 2025” list.
Terrestrial screens as part of Fantasia 2025, which takes place from July 16–August 3 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
